David Obey: “Mr. Speaker, we are not objecting to this process tonight because we are unhappy we are in the minority. We are in the…”

“Mr. Speaker, we are not objecting to this process tonight because we are unhappy we are in the minority. We are in the minority, and we expect to lose 99 percent of the votes around here. But we do not expect to have denied to us the opportunity to at least engage in the debate. My question is, what is the majority party afraid of? Our colleagues in the majority have the votes, and if they think we are wrong, outvote us. But the Committee on Rules has taken us beyond that. What the Committee on Rules has done is that they have said, ``Sorry, we are not going to even allow an opportunity to raise any of these questions.'' Now, this issue came up in March of 1999 when the Republicans were also in control. The exact same situation arose. At that time the majority party did the right thing. The Republican Party waived the rule for the majority so that we could proceed, but they also waived the rule so that we could participate equally in the process. That is what the majority party should have done this time around. They should have followed their own earlier example. I would also say that, in effect, what is happening is that the minority party is being prevented from doing its job because the majority party neglected to pass a 302 allocation.”